California’s Obamacare program is close to meeting enrollment goal

By Russ Britt

Halfway through the process, officials running the Obamacare program in California said Tuesday they are close to reaching the minimum expected enrollment for subsidy-eligible consumers and have surpassed the half-million mark in overall signups.

Covered California, the Golden State’s incarnation of Obamacare, says it enrolled 424,936 subsidy-eligible policyholders from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Peter V. Lee, Covered California’s executive director, said in a press release that the agency was forecast by independent assessors to reach enrollment at somewhere between 487,000 and 696,000 during the entire signup period, which runs through March 31.

Getty Images

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee

“These impressive numbers for the first half of open enrollment and the continued momentum in January tell us we are on track to meeting, if not beating, those enrollment estimates as we continue to pick up steam,” Lee said in a prepared statement.

The agency noted that 500,108 consumers — which includes those eligible for subsidies that those who aren’t — signed up for private insurance plans from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Preliminary figures show that total expanded to more than 625,000 by Jan. 15, but no breakdown was available for subsidy-eligible individuals.

California has, by far, exceeded any other state in the union for Obamacare signups. Figures released last week from the Department of Health and Human Services showed California accounted for roughly one-fourth of all enrollment in the nation during the last three months of the year.

The state also got 584,000 applicants into Medi-Cal programs, bringing its total enlistment figure to more than 1 million for the October-December period.

California’s enrollment of so-called “invincibles,” or young adults ages 18-34, was 25% but that’s how the state’s population breaks down by age group, the agency said.

More than 60% of enrollees picked a mid-level “silver” plan while more than 23% took the slightly cheaper “bronze” option. A cumulative 15% opted for the more expensive “gold” and “platinum” programs.

Story Conversation

About Health Exchange

Health Exchange guides investors to the crucial market intelligence they need to keep up with the health care industry, which makes up one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Anchored by Russ Britt, Health Exchange is the essential site for those looking for the most important news, data and analysis on the sector. You can reach Russ at Rbritt@marketwatch.com.